Congress think tank calls farm-to-market road program ‘underfunded’

THE farm-to-market road program is “underfunded” while much of the support it does get is often “misallocated,” according to the congressional think tank.

The Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) said 64,155 kilometers (km) of road remains unbuilt and estimated the backlog at more than 20 years if reforms are not implemented.

“Farm-to-market road development has been underfunded and misallocated, limiting their potential to enhance agricultural productivity and promote overall rural development,” Rosemarie R. Sawali and Krishna Margaret U. Mirida said in the report. 

The Philippine farm industry generally lacks efficient transport infrastructure, they said, noting that efforts to improve agricultural roads started in 1997 with the signing of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act. At the time, the needed roads were estimated at 131,410 km to fully service farm lots.

About 67,255 km of farm‑to‑market roads had been built as of 2022, according to the CPBRD.

Progress has remained sluggish, the think tank added, with only 3,851 km completed under President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s administration so far despite his pledge to streamline construction.

“Even taking the fastest recorded pace in recent years, the backlog would still require about 26 years to address,” the CPBRD said.

It said the government must establish a budget allocation framework that would help promote “equitable distribution” of funding for such roads, with the think tank noting that only five regions took up more than half of the P90.32 billion allotted for the project since 2023.

“Notably, none of these regions were among the top five with the highest number of farm-to-market road proposals, indicating a possible mismatch between resource allocation and local requirements,” the CPBRD said.

It added that a “well-defined” budgeting framework could reduce the risk of politicizing projects and “minimize, if not eliminate, risks of project insertion.”

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has been tasked with overseeing farm‑to‑market road projects in the wake of the corruption scandal that engulfed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the wake of the discovery last year of poorly built or even nonexistent flood control projects.

“Stronger monitoring practices should be complemented by legislation that establishes clear accountability measures, including appropriate sanctions for government officials and contractors who engage in corrupt practices,” the CPBRD said.

The government must increase funding for the road linkages program to close the backlog, recommending that the authorities pursue public-private partnerships along the agricultural supply chain to streamline the delivery of produce, the CPBRD said.

The CPBRD added that a nationwide assessment of the farm-to-market road program must be carried out to identify bottlenecks hampering progress. — Kenneth Christian L. Basilio